Tigers Split with Twins, Magic Number to 4

Minnesota 3, Detroit 2 (10 inn.) (box)

Minnesota 5, Detroit 6 (box)

Magic Number 4

By this point, I’m sure most of you have read several game recaps covering these two ball games.  Seeing as how I attended game one, and made it home in about the third inning of game two, I decided to skip the usual recap and just sprinkle in some thoughts about the series thus far.

• Curtis Granderson is really coming around, eh?  He is now 10 for his last 16 and six of those hits have been for extra bases.  He did still have a Granderson-like pop up with a runner in scoring position in game one, but overall, he is hopefully coming around at just the right time. 
• Fernando Rodney– Game two was a typical Demon Drop ride for Tiger fans, but it certainly wasn’t the fault of Rodney.  Placido Polanco and Granderson both misplayed balls that lead to the Twins’ run, and almost cost the Tigers the game.  He certainly earned the save last night.
• The ’84 celebration– Mother Nature didn’t cooperate fully, but the video tribute and the speech from Sparky Anderson sent chills through everyone in attendance.  Or was that just the 50 degree temperature coupled with the wind and rain?  No, it was seeing all those greats again. 

Once they called the game on Monday, my wife and I (and about 40,000 of our closest friends) had nothing better to do, so we headed over to Greektown to lose some cash.  It was my first trip to the casino, and it was a good time.  I could do without the smoke though.  I guess you don’t realize how much clean air means to you until you spend three hours in a mostly cloudy betting parlor.  The eyes and lungs were burning for several hours afterward.

So we headed down to Taylor and grabbed a room at the Red Roof Inn for the night, big thank yous to my In-Laws, who filled in admirably taking care of our three little ones while we were gone.

• My Wife– Valerie came this close to nabbing Grandy’s homer in game one, but the goof ball sitting in front of us reached up at the last second and the ball ended up in the hands of the lady behind us. 
• Denard Span– I’m fairly sure I fear him more than any hitter in the Twins’ lineup.  He is ten kinds of good.
• Gene Lamont– How can you not send Thomas on the base hit by Cabrera in game one? I know you don’t want to make the first out at home, but by sending Thomas on contact on the next hitter, Huff’s ground ball made Thomas easy pickings at the plate anyway.  I think you have to challenge Jason Kubel’s arm.  There is a reason he has spent the majority of the year as the DH.
• Justin Verlander– This is why you keep drafting the best available arm, no matter the cost.  Verlander reminded me of Jack Morris in game two, he wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t going to allow his team to lose.

Overall it was a fantastic couple days of sorely needed vacation.  I noticed via twitter that J. Ellet Lambie was also in attendance at game one, but I didn’t see that until well after I had left Michigan, sorry I missed you, John.  I would have liked to meet you, finally.

The area immediately around the stadium is very nice, and the folks were friendly.  I even saw a couple wearing Cubs Alan Trammell jerseys, one home and one away, very cool.